Hello, everyone! I'm Girish Mallya. I grew up in a city called Dharwad in Karnataka. I worked in Bangalore for a few months, about 6 years back, before heading off to the US to do my Master's in Electrical Engineering. I'm currently working as a researcher in Ireland.

I've been hanging around this place for quite a few days now but hadn't introduced myself earlier since I wanted to learn more about Nirmukta before deciding to jump in. Over the past few days, I've seen how great the quality of the discussions over here is. It's not that I hadn't seen it the very day I came across the Nirmukta.com website. That day, I went through quite a few articles, plus the debates in the comment sections, and was especially pleased to read the posts made by Ajita Kamal. That pleasure was marred the same day when I clicked the "Ajita Kamal" tab at the top of the webpage to know more about this man and learnt that he had passed away more than a year ago. I felt a sense of loss, in that I had discovered Nirmukta too late. Every time I read Ajita's posts/articles, I see how rational his thoughts were and how clearly he presented them.

Anyway, I'm glad that there are many around here who possess the same rational thinking and debating skills. Reading the stuff over here is always a pleasure, and although I sometimes skim through them when I'm pressed for time, I've made it a point to regularly go through the well-researched and articulate posts I come across. I've started my journey from being just an atheist to being an informed one.

More importantly, Nirmukta is helping me prepare for the day I get back to India not many years from now. Living in the West, life is much easier as an atheist since I am not surrounded by people who would try to shove their blind beliefs down my throat. Even though my wife is a believer, she is fine with my views and rarely ever tries to change them. But things will change after I move back to India. It will get worse after we have a kid, because almost everyone around the kid will try to indoctrinate him/her. In order to be able to challenge these people (who would be among my near and dear ones), I myself have to be well-informed.

So, I am happy to see so many Indian freethinkers/atheists and it feels good to be part of this community!

Religion provides a defence of superstition and repression in the name of tradition. - Ajita Kamal

Quote:It will get worse after we have a kid, because almost everyone around the kid will try to indoctrinate him/her. In order to be able to challenge these people (who would be among my near and dear ones), I myself have to be well-informed.

Quote:It will get worse after we have a kid, because almost everyone around the kid will try to indoctrinate him/her. In order to be able to challenge these people (who would be among my near and dear ones), I myself have to be well-informed.